Prelims

Half Title Page

Collaborative Writing Groups for Academic Publishing

Title Page

Collaborative Writing Groups for Academic Publishing: The 3C and 4P Way

By

Sarah Semon

Vanderbilt University, USA

Nicholas Catania

State College of Florida, USA

Danielle Lane

Western Oregon University, USA

And

Jessica Hinton

University of South Florida, USA

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

Copyright Page

Emerald Publishing Limited

Emerald Publishing, Floor 5, Northspring, 21-23 Wellington Street, Leeds LS1 4DL

First edition 2024

Copyright © 2024 Sarah Semon, Nicholas Catania, Danielle Lane and Jessica Hinton.

Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited.

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No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without either the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying issued in the UK by The Copyright Licensing Agency and in the USA by The Copyright Clearance Center. Any opinions expressed in the chapters are those of the authors. Whilst Emerald makes every effort to ensure the quality and accuracy of its content, Emerald makes no representation implied or otherwise, as to the chapters' suitability and application and disclaims any warranties, express or implied, to their use

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-83753-005-2 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-83753-004-5 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-83753-006-9 (Epub)

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my father, Edward C. Ayers II. I am forever grateful for your advice and humor in all things, especially related to my career. I miss you.

∼Sarah

About the Authors

Sarah Semon is the Technical Assistance Coordinator for the IRIS Center in the Peabody College of Education at Vanderbilt University, USA. Her research involves policy analysis, instructional collaboration, and practices to support inclusive and equitable education. Given her experience teaching in elementary and high school special education and inclusive settings, she is passionate about this. Sarah enjoys supporting and collaborating with local, national, and international colleagues and scholars committed to promoting inclusion, cultural and linguistic sensitivity, and academic mastery in public schools.

Nicholas Catania is an Assistant Professor and Program Manager of Elementary Education at State College of Florida, USA. His research focuses on teacher preparation for social justice and equitable policies and practices for the inclusion, advancement, and dignity of marginalized populations, including LGBTQ+ children and families. Nicholas also works closely with teacher candidates, coaching them to improve their teaching practices in the clinical setting. He recently published in the International Journal for Research in Education, the European Journal of Education Research, Power and Education, and The Qualitative Report.

Danielle Lane is an Assistant Professor of Special Education at Western Oregon University, USA. Her research focuses on global understandings of disabilities in various cultural contexts. Specifically, she is interested in centralizing the importance of inclusive practices in educational provisions for students with disabilities. Danielle teaches courses in special education at the graduate level. She recently published in the British Journal of Special Education, the British Journal of Learning Disabilities, Curriculum and Teaching Dialog, and The Qualitative Report.

Jessica Hinton is a Doctoral Candidate at the University of South Florida, USA, and a special education lead at a public middle school. Her research focuses on multi-tiered system of supports and teacher training, promotion, and retention. She has presented at the Teacher Education Division of the Council for Exceptional Children and the Florida Council for Exceptional Children. As a middle school special education lead, she supports teachers in inclusive practices for behavioral and academic supports. She is interested in school leadership practices and systems which train and support teachers to facilitate inclusion for all students.

Foreword

Before I embarked on my academic career as a professor in higher education, I had a flourishing career as an author and speaker on all things education-related. When I started my first courses for my doctorate, I had already had more than 26 books published and 100 articles. I was used to receiving accolades about my writing and topped the bestseller list with my first book “Apples & Chalkdust: Inspirational Stories and Encouragement for Teachers.” All of this I accomplished as “sole” author. I did it on my own, in my own head.

Things changed dramatically when I entered my doctoral program and discovered that scholarly writing, often a collaborative effort, required a different skill set, one I did not possess. I met Sarah Semon that very first year of my studies and found myself in the midst of a culture of collaboration in pursuit of scholarship. I worked alongside and in concert with those who were well beyond my own expertise. We had shared goals and a strong sense of commitment to our field. I learned the necessary skills to be a successful and impactful scholar in the field of teacher education.

Since those early days as a scholar, I have had opportunities to continue to learn about myself as a scholar-practitioner. I learned that I had great ideas but not always the “space” in my life and work to execute them. I learned the importance of commitment but sometimes struggled with communication. I found myself falling back into my old habits of working alone so that I could manage my priorities and passions on my own time in my own way. The tenure struggle is real, and the preference for sole authorship in the promotion and tenure process led me away from collaborative writing and publishing. Until now.

What I appreciate about Collaborative Writing Groups for Academic Publishing: The 3C & 4P Way is its usefulness. It is more a “guide on the side” and not a “sage on the stage” type of book. Although the authors share their own developing and expert experiences, those stories and anecdotes are meant to provide support for the guiding principles. This guide honestly and without apology bridges the theory-to-practice gap of scholarly writing.

This guide is organized around the framing principles of C3P4: Common Focus, Commitments, Communication; Priorities, Plans, Protecting Deadlines, and Positive Reinforcement. Each of these principles is both situated in the literature and evident through the lived experiences of the authors. They provide a perfect frame to capture this collaborative process of scholarly writing and publication.

I see this guide as something scholars can use informally in their own writing groups to keep them on track and engaged. I can also see it used more formally as the foundational resource to guide a professional development course or scholarly writing “bootcamp” part of a university's Center for Teaching and Learning. Having participated myself in a college-wide scholarly writing boot camp, I know this guide would have better organized that experience.

As someone who is considered “mid-career” faculty at this point, I know how valuable this guide can be for both graduate students and early-career faculty. This guide has given me the opportunity to learn more and recommit my own efforts to collaborate with others who share a common focus.

Vicki Caruana, PhD

Assistant Professor of Special Education

State University of New York, at Potsdam

Preface

Graduate students and early career faculty are experiencing a heavier workload and an increasingly competitive academic publishing landscape. This book will help aspiring writers and scholars establish hyper-productive writing groups while navigating these challenges. Through stories, anecdotes, and connections to academic research, we will discuss the value of collaborative writing groups in navigating the obstacle course of academic publishing. Readers will learn key components of a successful collaborative writing group and how to establish one. We will highlight the pitfalls commonly experienced, including, but not limited to, infrequent meeting schedules, the lack of focus on establishing trusting relationships or alignment on purpose and projects, and the lack of visual accountability tools. We will also include discussion questions useful for those who want to develop a plan as they read the book. Enjoy!

Acknowledgments

We want to acknowledge our significant others, families, friends, co-workers, and pets for supporting us during the writing of this book. Thank you for rearranging your schedules way too often and for putting up with our meetings, text messages, and hours spent on our computers. We could not have done it without you!